Friday, April 3, 2009

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

Spring.

One of our two seasons here in Southern California (the other, of course, is summer).

And what comes with Spring? Besides in influx of pollen that can destroy your quality of life (oh, I digress and yet would like to take this opportunity to say the Neti-Pot isn't just an Oprah craze...it is a miracle worker!)…Okay, back to Spring. What's else in the in air? It's love. Yes, love is all a'swirling.

Or at least in my oven.

Recently, I was looking at Amy’s Sing for your Supper blog and saw her beautiful Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt cake . She has a fancy new Bundt pan. Go look at her cake. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.

Cute, huh?

It was love at first sight and bite!

And the love continues. I have made this cake four times in one week (to four different groups of people)! Yes, I'm so in love.

This recipe is so awesome simple! Don’t have to get anything to room temp and you don’t need a KitchenAid mixer. The secret is bringing 1 c water, ½ c oil, 1 stick butter and ¼ c + 1T (or 5 T) cocoa powder to a boil and then adding it to a 2 c flour, 2 c sugar and ½ t salt mixture. Add in ½ c buttermilk and 1 t baking soda. Mix 2 eggs, 1 ½ t cinnamon and 1 t vanilla in a small bowl and combine with batter. That's it!! Bake in a Bundt at 375 for 30-35 minutes (the original recipe says 25 minutes but mine has been raw at this point). Cool in the pan (I took depanned mine after about 20 minutes with no problems).

Oh geez, I just typed the recipe from memory. I’m seriously head-over-heels in love.

One time, I added 1 t instant espresso powder to the boiled mixture and it was good, but it muted the cinnamon flavor. Ina Garten just did a Barefoot Contessa show where the secret ingredient in her chocolate recipe was coffee…and I agree with her…but not in this one so I'm sticking with the original. Also, I've made it with both Dutch-processed and regular Hershey's cocoa powder - and it was fab both times. I'm telling you - this cake rocks.

Do your friends, family and co-workers a favor...make this cake!You'll fall in love this Spring too!

a love letter to a cake! this is my kind of writing! and I love having a stash of recipes that are simpler than the usual (like not needing softened butter ALL the time). This looks worthy of all that love...I can't wait to try it in one of my 13 bundt pans (sigh).

Great tease on tastespotting, and I was even more pleased to read your enthusiastic prose. Then to top it off, the recipe was something I could do. I'm a cook not a baker, but this kind of baking (easy) is up my alley. Thank you.

OK..this is just an idea and you can ignore it if you want, but I SERIOUSLY think you should write a cookbook all about coffee cakes..every time you make a bundt cake it looks perfect and you have a ton of different recipes..and how cool would it be to see YOUR book on the library shelves!

Wow, if the cake tastes as good as the pic...it really should be awesome!I just loved this recipe and will be reading through the other ones in the blog! Congrats for the great recipe!Hugs from Brazil!Verena

I just made this cake and it is now 10:30 on the East Coast and I had to have a piece. The cake is moist, moist, moist with a wonderful crumb. I had to bake it for almost an hour but I had to put it in an angel food pan because I can't find my bundt pan. thanks so much for posting this recipe! I love your blog!!

I remember when i was young there were mixes you could buy at the store that included the tunnels. I remember a cinnamon swirl one, a chocolate cake with a white creamy type filling, and mostly I remember and drizzle. Does anyone know if there is anywhere that still sells them or have a chocolate/caramel bundt recipe? Not only can i not find a recipe but i can't even find a nostalgia page that acknowledges them.